Sacred Texts Legends & Sagas England Index Previous Next
85A.1 LADY ALICE was sitting in her bower-window, Mending her midnight quoif, And there she saw as fine a corpse As ever she saw in her life. 85A.2 ‘What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? What bear ye on your shoulders?’ ‘We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, An old and true lover of yours.’ 85A.3 ‘O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, All on the grass so green, And tomorrow, when the sun goes down, Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. 85A.4 ‘And bury me in Saint Mary’s church, All for my love so true, And make me a garland of marjoram, And of lemon-thyme, and rue.’ 85A.5 Giles Collins was buried all in the east, Lady Alice all in the west, And the roses that grew on Giles Collins’s grave, They reached Lady Alice’s breast. 85A.6 The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, And he severed those roses in twain; Sure never were seen such true lovers before, Nor eer will there be again.
85B.1 GILES COLLINS he said to his old mother, Mother, come bind up my head, And sent to the parson of our parish, For tomorrow I shall be dead. dead, For tomorrow I shall be dead. 85B.2 His mother she made him some water-gruel, And stirrd it round with a spoon; Giles Collins he ate up his water-gruel, And died before ’twas noon. 85B.3 Lady Anna was sitting at her window, Mending her night-robe and coif; She saw the very prettiest corpse She’d seen in all her life. 85B.4 ‘What bear ye there, ye six strong men, Upon your shoulders so high?’ ‘We bear the body of Giles Collins, Who for love of you did die.’ 85B.5 ‘Set him down, set him down,’ Lady Anna she cry’d, ‘On the grass that grows so green; Tomorrow, before the clock strikes ten, My body shall lye by hisn.’ 85B.6 Lady Anna was buried in the east, Giles Collins was buried in the west; There grew a lilly from Giles Collins That touchd Lady Anna’s breast. 85B.7 There blew a cold north-easterly wind, And cut this lilly in twain, Which never there was seen before, And it never will again.
85[C].1 Giles Collin he said to his mother one day, Oh, mother, come bind up my head! For tommorow morning before it is day I’m sure I shall be dead. 85[C.2] ‘Oh, mother, oh, mother, if I should die, And I am sure I shall, I will not be buried in our churchyard, But under Lady Alice’s wall.’ 85[C.3] His mother she made him some water-gruel, And stirred it up with a spoon; Giles Collin he ate but one spoonful, And died before it was noon. 85[C.4] Lady Alice was sitting in her window, All dressed in her night-coif; She saw as pretty a corpse go by As ever she’d seen in her life. 85[C.5] ‘What bear ye there, ye six tall men? What bear ye on your shourn?’ ‘We bear the body of Giles Collin, Who was a true lover of yourn.’ 85[C.6] ‘Down with him, down with him, upon the grass, The grass that grows so green; For tomorrow morning before it is day My body shall lie by him.’ 85[C.7] Her mother she made her some plum-gruel, With spices all of the best; Lady Alice she ate but one spoonful, And the doctor he ate up the rest. 85[C.8] Giles Collin was laid in the lower chancel, Lady Alice all in the higher; There grew up a rose from Lady Alice’s breast, And from Giles Collin’s a briar. 85[C.9] And they grew, and they grew, to the very church-top, Until they could grow no higher, And twisted and twined in a true-lover’s knot, Which made all the parish admire.